Monday, 30 June 2014

Bonjour!......here i am back again and feeling refreshed from my blog break.........last week mr p and i were in the sunny south of france and here are a few pictures from our trip.............

............the harbour at nice.........beautiful light and gorgeous colours........we have been to other parts of france but not to nice until now.......... my parents used to spend three weeks in nice every spring and they gave us lots of tips of places to see.............

.................more wonderful colour combinations and i do love the shutters............

.................the sparkling blue mediterranean sea.........as many of you will know, this is a famous view over the beautiful baie des anges..............

............and we could see why it is called the cote d'azur................

.................of course i came home with my camera stuffed with photos of things i loved, and my case stuffed with french finds, and my head stuffed with impressions and inspirations :)............

...............i especially loved the old town and the amazing buildings there, windows with lace curtains fluttering and bright geraniums in pots and window boxes, as well as the neon bright bougainvillea spilling over railings and walls................

.............i picked out the colours of this house especially...............

................and the beautiful negresco hotel ..............

..............i found lots of flowers too, here is just one gorgeous plant...............

................and when i got home i found my latest issue of love patchwork and quilting magazine with my floral wreath project in it.................this is a fun design, easy to make and i took a quick picture of it below with my first sweet peas which were also here to greet my return...............

..............the magazine is full of inspiration for all fabric lovers, beginners or experienced patchworkers and quilters will enjoy its perfectly styled pages, gorgeous photographs and interesting features as well as the many marvellous projects.............you can buy the magazine here and subscribe here......................

................perfect for a post holiday browse with a cup of tea and a couple of macarons...............

...................thank you for visiting me here, lovely readers.......it is a pleasure to see you here in my little blog space, and thank you too for your kind comments, they are always a delight to read.......i am looking forward to visiting all my blog friends now and to catching up............wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.........................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooxxxx

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

We have been enjoying such beautiful sunny summer days here, and the flowers are blooming away in our garden, with plenty to spare for gathering into big bunches and enjoying indoors.......my special jug for 'flowers from the garden' was a present from one of my sweet sisters last year .........and it somehow wouldn't feel right putting flowers from a shop in it :)

...............i gather the flowers in this very old shallow flower basket that came from grannie's house when we sorted it out.....

...............i like to use it as it is the perfect shape for the job and makes me think of ladies of the past and their leisurely days of snipping flowers to arrange........

..............my days have been very busy, and not so leisurely as i mentioned last time, working on lots of new designs, mainly christmas ones.............but i have had the windows and doors wide open while making and making and sewing and sewing..................

.................i have fitted in a little bit of crochet in the evenings, finishing off rosie's blanket (pictures of that soon) and making some more flowers for my next cushion in my flower cushion collection :)

...............one of the designs i have been working on had numbers in it.....the ones i practiced on were lying on my desk so i made some quick tags with them............

..............i love making these little flowers........last year i found the pattern for them on the internet and wrote it in my notebook, but now i can't find it again and am not able to attribute it to anyone......if you recognise it please let me know..............

.............a few more flowers inspired by the colours of my bouquet...................

................and here is some stitching to show you too, this is my house sampler design in this month's crafts beautiful magazine............i love red and white samplers, and i love stitching houses too..........

...................i added the home sweet home word embellishments by printing them onto card.......combining paper crafts and stitching is continually inspiring to me and there are always new ideas to try................

.............some views from our garden this week.............lots of blue sky, the sweet peas canes, a little glimpse of the sea and roses growing over the old garage roof..............and below is the round shabby chic table in our tiny courtyard outside the kitchen door where i have lots of geraniums growing and some new red and white striped petunias..........the little door behind the flowers is the door to our old garden store................

.................besides loving the summery days and being in the christmas zone work wise, i have also been washing and ironing and packing our suitcases as we are going on holiday in a few days....

................so next week i will be taking a little blog break.......but i will be back the week after with pictures to show and lots more crafty news then too..............thank you for visiting me here lovely readers, and thank you for all your sweet comments...........wishing you sunny days, bright flowers and happy times..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

On my list of 'things i love' summer flowers and sewing notions would both be quite high up :)....

..............i made some cube shaped pincushions, inspired by the applique baby blocks in my book *pretty patchwork gifts*..............instead of adding bunny appliques i added sewing themed ribbon and a button or two, and i used some sewing themed japanese fabric as well................

.................i made a big block which is great to stand next to the sewing machine and receive the pins as i work...........you can fill these blocks with walnut shells for a bit of weight and help with pin sharpening, or use polyester filling and maybe add a little dried lavender to it............

................or some dried rose petals...........here is my candy pink rose flowering away at its peak time of the year...........the flowers start off deep sugar pink and as they grow bigger they get paler but still as pretty..................

..................another little cube pincushion............this one has some of my favourite text prints combined with strawberries...............and a little selvedge tag to match the colours.............

..............we have had lots of delicious strawberries this week.......i took some pictures of them before they were gone..............below is my sewing hoop.............i found this pale pink vintage cup and saucer (and a plate too, it was a 'trio') at a local shop recently................

.................i am giving this pincushion to a friend as she admired it :)...................

................this week i am super busy with work commissions, all lovely things to do and i like to take my time over each project and enjoy the making so i am going to be working some very long hours...............

.................one more dish of strawberries and below some of the candy pink roses, slowly losing the petals very prettily onto the table..............

................when i had my pretty little box-making crush a few weeks ago i made this little sewing gift box too but didn't get around to showing it before............the box is a paper mache one which i painted pale blue (two coats) inside and out...............then i decorated the top with these lovely paper sewing embellishments from kaisercrafts...............

................it is just the right size to hold special sewing thread for a stitching friend...........

...............we had some lovely friends here last weekend and one of the treats they brought us was a big bunch of peonies and stocks..............gorgeous scent and colour..............i have moved the vase into my sewing room so i can enjoy it while i work.........

..................thank you for visiting me here, lovely readers, and thank you for all your kind comments, it is such a treat to hear from you............i hope you are having a wonderful week wherever you are and are enjoying some crafty times, flowers and sunshine..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxx

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

The starry quilt has come back from being longarm quilted and i had fun taking some pictures of it over the weekend.............i took various photos of it here and there, and pinned it up in my sewing room where it will stay for a while as i like the bright colours.............

..................above is a peek into my sewing room.........behind the door on the right is my fabric cupboard as well as a small sofa piled up with fabric and my ironing board with a partly made project on it (top secret, for a magazine).............i made forty four six point stars for this little quilt and joined them with a white hexagon, then filled in the sides with white fabric to straighten them and added a two inch border all round..............

............the stars were all hand sewn using english paper piecing........i got my diamond pieces from sew and quilt here..................i used lots of my favourite fabrics from my stash and the white fabric is kona white also from sew and quilt...............

...............making the stars was a pleasure, as i enjoyed using up lots of prints and it was a very portable project so i could make a few now and then and before i knew it had quite a collection.......

................here is a handy tip i learnt.........if you piece the diamonds together in two groups of three and then join the two 'halves' of the star together right across the long, straight middle seam it prevents that little gap that sometimes forms in the star centre and the wobbly effect that sometimes creates..........sewing across the middle seam makes it a much sturdier star :)...............

..............i tried not to include too many pictures ;)..............

.................just a couple more.............here is the backing made using the gorgeous pam kitty picnic gumball dot pattern which i mentioned last time.............it picks out all the colours in the quilt so nicely and i used some of my old favourite pink and white candy stripe for the binding (i bought a vast amount of this fabric a few years ago and have used it in endless ways since then.......my stock of it is getting a bit low now though....................

...............the long arm quilting pattern is an all over one of daisies..................

..............some of you may remember the little patchwork birds i made for the exciting and inspiring love patchwork and quilting magazine...........i am pleased to say they are featured on the hobbycraft blog so if you missed them before and would like the pattern now, pop over there and see the feature........you can even buy the little white tree from hobbycraft to hang your own birdies on...............

............i have enjoyed a few posies from the garden this week and just had to include one here....

..............this deep magenta rose has a gorgeous scent and i love having this jug on my desk while i work, or next to my cutting table...............

...............i am loving this time of year, with lots of sunny garden days and lots of lovely new crafty things to make too...........i am busy with work projects this week, but i'm also gathering yarn together for another flowery crochet cushion.........thank you to everyone who asked about my cushion in the previous post.........i will try to write out the pattern for it soon and let you know how i made it.......

...............a little pile of summery quilts.............

................thank you for dropping in to see me in my crafty little blog space, lovely readers, it is a pleasure to see you.........and thank you so much for the sweet comments too......i know everyone is very busy and i really do appreciate you taking the time...............wishing you all lots of happy sunny days and starry starry nights.....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxx

my new book

about me

I am a designer, author, illustrator, stitcher and I just love crafting and making things. I live on the North West coast of England with my lovely husband. My family mean the world to me - I have two amazing grown up daughters and three sweet grandchildren - two boys and a girl.